8. Although the NHRCK is an independent national organization, it is not independent in recruiting the workforce and allocating the budget since those activities require approval from the relevant ministry. The constant request from the NHRCK to set up a division for women’s human rights and recruit more staff in order to reinforce its role in the issue has not been accepted by the Government until January 2018. The Commission’s autonomy over the workforce and budget needs to be secured. [4] Promotion of Female Representation in the Public Sector (List of Issues 7) 9. Korea has been one of the lowest ranked countries in the glass-ceiling index for years among 29 OECD countries. Representing women, half of the members of society, equally as men in politics and economy is a critical condition for equal opportunity, equity and ultimately respect for humankind and development of democracy. In particular, political representation of women is very low even though at least 30%3 of female politicians would enable women-friendly policies and laws in the currently male-dominant political scene. The female proportion of lawmakers in Korea was 17% in 2016, which was higher compared to 15.7% in 2012, but still lower than 23.3% of the average of 193 countries and 19% of the Asian average4. The situation is particularly worse in the local elections as merely 8.2% of metropolitan city councilors were women in 2014. Meanwhile, in case of local council members, over 10% of them were women in 2010 with 274 out of 1,512 and in 2014, the proportion was a record high at 14.6% in the local elections. Still, it is lower compared to the female proportion of National Assembly members (Election Statistics System of the National Election Commission). 10. The Public Official Election Act states that political parties shall work to recommend not less than 30/100 of the total number of the candidates from 3 Dahlerup pointed out that women’s voice can be heard when 30% of the parliamentary seats are taken by women (1988). According to the theory of critical mass by Kanter, at least 15% of politicians should be women to bring about changes to political culture and enable policies and legislation for women in the situation of female underrepresentation and male dominance. 4 IPU(2017), Women in national parliaments